INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (KSNT) - The Indiana Pacers have typically leaned in the direction of experience with their recent NBA draft selections.
In 2023, they selected a youngster with their first pick before taking Ben Sheppard late in the first round with their second selection. Sheppard went to Indiana after four years of college hoops with Belmont. They also picked Isaiah Wong in 2023 after he played four seasons for Miami.
In 2024, two of the Pacers' three selections followed a similar trend. They picked Enrique Freeman, who spent five years at Akron, and Tristen Newton who played three years for East Carolina before transferring to UConn and winning a national title as a senior.
KU's Johnny Furphy didn't fit their style of experienced, veteran college basketball players. He was too good to pass up, according to Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan.
"We were pleasantly surprised that [Furphy] was there [in the second round.]" Buchanan said after the draft.
The Pacers did not have a first round draft pick and given Furphy's listing in the top-30 on most expert's draft boards and his invitation to the draft green room, it was surprising to most that he was available on Thursday.
Furphy, unlike the other Pacers' picks, only played 33 games of college hoops in his career and averaged less than 25 minutes of playing time per game.
"We have a lot of established roles already so we feel like we're willing to be a little more patient with a young player like Johnny," Buchanan said. "Feel like he's a guy who's got a lot of room to grow. Both his body, physically, his game- he's obviously very young in age. We liked a lot of things about him that felt like aligned with who we are as an organization, how we play."
Buchanan expressed his excitement to add a player from prestigious program like KU and smiled when adding that Pacers' president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard is excited to have another Jayhawk in the building. Pritchard was a member of Kansas' 1988 national championship team.
Buchanan added that most second round picks don't turn out to be NBA All-Stars but expressed fondness for Furphy's game.
"[I] like his aggressiveness," he said. "He's a very aggressive, assertive player who knows how to play without the ball which is beneficial for the way we play... But he can also catch-and-shoot. I think that's a skill he'll continue to develop with us."
Buchanan says Furphy will have to grow physically and on defense but the style of play is a near perfect fit.
The Pacers even traded up a spot to snag the former Jayhawk.
"He was the guy that we had targeted to go get and we wanted to make sure we got him," he said. "We didn't want to leave any room to change that we weren't going to get him."
